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www.northamptonhopecentre.org.uk

Our patrons: The Rt Hon Earl Spencer, DL, Sally Keeble. The Right Reverend Peter Doyle Bishop of Northampton

Northampton Hope CenrePO Box 472,Northampton NN1 3ZY

contact us on 01604 602456email: office@northamptonhopecentre.org.uk

Hope Centre volunteers come from varyingbackgrounds each of which is enlightening andenriching and makes the Hope Centre what it istoday.Tom, tell us a bit a bit about yourself.

I was born in Scotland, 57 years ago I gotmarried at 18 and I have a son. I spent the earlypart of my career as an electrician in the RoyalNavy working on helicopters, this led me to be partof the Royal Fleet Auxillary Service during the CodWar. I wanted to release myself from the Navy asmy next post was to be on board ship away frommy family so I unfortunately turned to crime. WhenI eventually got caught and was sent to Borstal Istudied and passed my City and Guilds as ageneral electricianHow did you come to live on the streets?

I had always been a drinker and although I hadthe odd driving job I soon realised I had to make a

choice between drinking alcohol and my driving - Idecided to stop driving. My marriage broke downand I spent my time going to pubs and clubsdrinking heavily, anything to avoid going home. Sobegan my life on the streets in 1976.When did you arrive in Northampton?

After a spell in Cornwall where I started to studySocial Work, I arrived in Northampton in 1981. Iwas drinking heavily and squatting became aneasy way of life to continue drinking. Drink was myonly companion.What happened to make you stopdrinking?

A very dear friend of mine died. We had spent20 years together living and drinking on the streets.I started to drink anything - perfume, aftershave,shoe polish, surgical spirits, meths and even spiritlevel fluid. I didn’t care anymore. I tried manyprograms to stop drinking – they all failed. In 2005 I

finally decided to stop once and for all and, other

than one relapse, I knew i could never have a drink

again.

How long have you been volunteering atthe Hope Centre?

I began volunteering in 2008 offering my time

and help and nowadays I collect the HopeCentre post as well as doing any other errands

they want doing. I am treated as part of the team

and feel well respected, who would have thought it?

Toms wish is to carry on volunteering helping

places such as the Hope Centre, CAN and the

Bridge Programme who once helped him on

his journey. And if he had his time again? ‘Well, it’s

not everyone’s cup of tea as to how to live your life

but I do have some happy memories, I think Imust have a guardian angel’.

volunteer profile... tom

“fantastic new facilities”Become a fan of the Hope Centre on Facebook!

www.facebook.com/northamptonhopecentre

contact us www.northamptonhopecentre.org.uk

involvedTom has been a great advocate forthe Hope Centre and has been agreat support for many of our clients,giving advice and information or justbeing a friend.

at the hope centre

get

Early in 2012 we will be taking the historical step of moving the DayCentre and all of our other client services into Oasis House. As you cansee from the amazing artist impressions, this is going to be quite animprovement on the cramped basement premises we have occupied forthe last 18 years!

Oasis House is a purpose built centre that will bring together the verybest in accommodation and support services for homeless people inNorthampton. Everyone at the Hope Centre is really excited about themove as it will mean that our clients will have direct access to all theservices they need under one roof. We will gain from using the fantasticnew facilities whilst still keeping our independence as a charity.

We see Oasis House as the beginning of a new era for us and for ourclients, it will change the way we work…but it won’t change who weare! We will still be providing all the same essential services to the same

clients, we will have the same staff (and possibly a couple of new ones)and we will still rely on our 60+ volunteers to help us to run the daycentre. Our costs will remain similar and, although we will receivefinancial support from NBC, we will still need to find around 90% of ourfunding ourselves in order to continue to be able to provide our services.

We feel very fortunate to have been asked to be part of this exciting andforward thinking partnership which will transform the level of supportavailable to homeless people in Northampton. The key partnershipagencies are Northampton Borough Council, NorthamptonshireCounty Council, Midland Heart, NAASH and the Hope Centre.There will be several other organisations also providing services on-siteand we will be able to give full details closer to the move.

We are sure you will agree that this is a great step forward in the history of our charity and for homelessness services in Northampton.

We are looking for volunteers to help in our clothes store Mondays, Tuesdays or Thursdays 10am till 12pm. The volunteer will help sort clothing dona-tions, serve clients and general housekeeping. We also need help sorting our harvest festival donations that we are ever grateful for. If you can spend a fewhours a week over the next 2 months I would like to hear from you. For further information regarding any of our volunteering opportunities please call Sarah on 01604 602456 or e mail me sarah@northamptonhopecentre.org.uk

We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another.

Luciano De Crescenzo (born 18 August 1928) is an Italian writer, film actor,director and engineer.

quarterlyquote... “”

Be part of our team... we need your help...

Luciano de Crescenzo

theinterview

Funding providers: Places of Change is a government funded programme committed to replacing old institutional buildings with modern, inspirational buildings which support greater independence for homeless people. Further funding has been provided by the Homes &

Communities Agency, Northampton Borough Council, Northamptonshire County Council, Northamptonshire Primary Care Trust and Midland Heart.

a historic step forward...

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Nicola Stevenson istrained in applied theatre and

has been volunteering at theHope Centre over the summer

months. Nicola has led a group in thetask of producing a short play which

highlights the intergenerational differences in theapproach to recycling.

The production has been a group effort from the onset. Theydecided on the theme ‘recycling’ as this was an issue they felt wasboth current and meaningful. There was a clear message that reusingthings is not a new concept but one that over time had been neglectedby many.

Aptly naming themselves the ‘Hope Centre thespians’ the groupperformed their play to an audience made up of volunteers, staff andcommittee members. The audience really enjoyed it. One person said“That was brilliant; I never realised there was such talent hiddenamongst individuals.”

Theatre and the arts is therapeutic it is not just a great way forpeople to express themselves but also an opportunity to develop skillsand gain confidence.

We are grateful for the time Nicola dedicated to this project. Wehope that the ‘Hope Centre thespians’ will continue. Specialthanks to Nicola, Richard and Julia. Well done to all those whocontributed to the play and thank you for the supportive audience.

activitiesactivities

donate

at the hope centre

such talented individuals...

summer 2011

We have been receiving produce grown at the Abington Avenue United Reformed

Church’s community allotment. A kind hardworking volunteer from the church suggested

an opportunity for us to bring some clients along to help out at the allotment. Interest was

generated immediately and over the last month we have been attending to the allotment

during a weekly slot.

Having written a dissertation on the benefits of allotment gardening I am fully aware of how

brilliant the opportunity is to our client group. Allotment gardening gives people a sense

of achievement; reduces stress and can improve both physical and mental wellbeing.

So far the group have helped with watering, picking and weeding. The group is of varying

knowledge and experience, from novice to green fingered vegetable growers, so they have

learnt from one another. Each week we have taken an array of produce back with us to the

Hope Centre to be cooked up in the kitchen for all to enjoy.

Thank you to the church and particularly to Rachel. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.

A group of volunteers, mainly client volunteers took to the racecourse for the Northampton

Umbrella Fair. The Umbrella Fair is a festival aimed at celebrating diversity, whilst

educating and encouraging people to become more environmentally friendly.

For our stall we prepared a variety of homemade gifts, including plants, jewellery and

cakes. We reused tin cans in keeping with the environmental element of the festival. We

also had our two workshop volunteers Marjorie and Elaine to offer taster treatment

sessions in reflexology and Indian head massage. We made over £100 but equally as

important we raised awareness of the charity.

We are working in partnership with BromfordSupport. They are offering a drop-in everyTuesday morning to help our clients with arange of concerns. From rent arrears andbenefit advice to neighbourhood issues andheath concerns. We are pleased to beworking with Bromford as thispartnership meets a great need amongstour client groups.

www.northamptonhopecentre.org.uk

by Debbie Galton

You can now donate money to us or set up a sponsorship page for an event using the Justgiving website:

www.justgiving.com/northamptonhopecentre

fundraisingnews

night rider...

inside spread

Allotment...

Umbrella fair

Freemason’s funding...

hope centre thespians’ by Helen Harris

text donationsWe are now able to accept text donations, making it evenquicker and easier to donate or to collect sponsorship if youare fundraising for us. Just text NNHC11 plus the amount you want to donate to 70070. Itʼs free to text and we receive the money directly throughour Just Giving account.

We are really pleased to announce that EarlSpencer is to become a patron of the HopeCentre. He will join our two other patrons; BishopPeter Doyle, the Bishop of Northampton andSally Keeble, former MP. We are absolutelydelighted that Earl Spencer has decided to join usa patron, when most people think of Northamptonthey think of the Spencer family and when theythink of homelessness they think of the HopeCentre.

Earl Spencer said "I was genuinely keen to helpthe Hope Centre, as soon as I heard what it did,and who it helped. After visiting it, I am even moreconvinced that it does great things for some of

Northampton's most vulnerable people, and I'mexcited to become a patron of this wonderfulorganisation."

It all started when Earl Spencer heard ourChristmas Appeal on BBC RadioNorthampton, we were being interviewed on theMartin Heath show very early one Sunday morningin December and he got in touch as he was soconcerned about people sleeping outside in suchterribly cold weather. It just goes to show younever know who is listening!

This is an exciting development in thehistory of the charity and we are all lookingforward to working with Earl Spencer.

success!!!

We were absolutely thrilled recently when a group of local Freemasons came to visitthe Hope Centre and present a cheque for £1000. Thank you so much to everyonefrom Delapre Lodge for your generosity, it was great to hear all about their charitableendeavours and we were very pleased to have been selected as a beneficiary oftheir good work.

news just in...Delapre Lodge are organising a series of charity car boot sales, starting in theauturmn. They will be holding one for the Hope Centre on Saturday November19th at St Georges Hall, St Georges Avenue, Northampton. It will all be undercover so no problem if it rains – so wrap up warm and come along to get some earlyChristmas bargains! Full details of all dates and times will be available on www.stgeorges-hall.com andclick on the ‘whats on’ page – keep checking back for details.

Earl Spencer has decided to join us as a patron

We would like to say a very big thank you to Sharon Mitchell from Kier Ltd in Bedfordshire who joined 1,000other cyclists at the Nightrider event in June. She bravely cycled the 100km course, taking in over fifty ofLondon’s most famous landmarks – although we are fairly sure that she didn’t have time for sightseeing!

Sharon was inspired by all the support she received from her friends and family, colleagues from Kier and othersupportive companies including Movers & Shakers, Hobs, ABI and pds. She obviously has extremely generousfriends and colleagues as they helped her to raise an amazing £1477.

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